Dee Mclellan, one of our Solar System Educators, had a great idea for making a Deep Impact. Her class is gathering the number
of pennies it will take to match the copper in our impactor projectile. "When we finally get enough pennies to "make weight," we
will count up how much money the pennies make. We will then make a "deep impact" by sending this much money to our sister
school in Ukraine to help them with their educational needs. When the 7th graders throw their pennies in the bucket they say, "I
am making a deep impact!" They, of course, love the double meaning.

"We were weighing the pennies today to see how many we need to equal the weight of the copper mass on the impactor. We
are about one fourth of the way to having enough pennies. It is exciting to see how the students get an idea of the size of the
impactor from this experience. They are learning science, technology, math, and giving. How cool!"

The students at Meadow Creek have been working hard to get those pennies and they've finally reached their goal. The
update comes from their teacher, Dee Mclellan, this month.

Deep Impact helped us make a dramatic ending to our 7th grade studies in Earth Science and math class. The
class was determined to collect enough pennies to get to the weight and size of the copper mass of the impactor. They collected
about 300 lbs of pennies by the last day of school. This came to about $500 for their sister school in Buzhanka, Ukraine. The
students were so enthusiastic about the project, some of them made copies of the Deep Impact web site page and their own flyers
and went door-to-door collecting pennies. People they met gave them pennies and loose change. The kids went to the bank to get
pennies for the change and the bank was running out. They were limiting them to only so many per stop.

That all changed when the kids turned the tables and hauled all 300 lbs of pennies in over 30 bags to the bank to be counted. It
took 1hr and 10 minutes to run the pennies through the counting machine. All along the kids would do estimations on the weight,
the number of pennies, the amount of money, etc. For example, the students who went to the bank timed the counting machine to
see how long the first $100 took to be counted. Then they estimated how long it would take the machine to count the rest of the
pennies. After this estimation, they pulled up chairs and started reading magazines for the rest of the count. They were so happy
with the project that they asked if they could do it along with next year's Earth Science class in the fall. I suggested they be the
mentors for the next class. They agreed, so in the fall they will all be assigned a "little buddy." Each student will oversee their little
buddy by helping them with the math and teaching them about the mission. The class put up a special "Deep Impact" bulletin
board already waiting for the new class to see this fall. We will all be anticipating the launch in December, too.

I (Mrs. Mclellan) will be traveling with our Ukraine team from July 21 to August 4. I will visit our sister school and bring them
information on the Deep Impact mission and school supplies for their school.

Thanks for the update, Dee. And thanks for making a Deep Impact with math and science. We can hardly wait to see how this
class impacts the "little buddies" next year. Lots of pennies are great - lots of young men and women who love math and science
and carry it forward is even better.

The team from Meadow Creek School in Andover, Minnesota had the opportunity to visit their sister school in Buzhanka,
Ukraine this summer. They brought letters of greeting from the students of Meadow Creek and received letters from Buzhanka
students to deliver at home.

This year the Meadow Creek team was able to bring a wonderful gift of money and some school supplies to help the
Buzhanka School. The Schools in Ukraine are encouraged to find sponsors to help them in their science educational
needs.

Meadow Creek's 7th grade Earth Science classes were able to "Make a Deep Impact" in Buzhanka by donating the sum of
the pennies collected to match the copper deadmass on the Deep Impact mission's impactor.

Dee McLellan, a 7th grade teacher from Meadow Creek, presented a teacher workshop on science inquiry and the Deep
Impact mission. The teachers were thrilled to receive the information. The principal asked to personally receive updates on
the mission. The Buzhanka School is making a "Deep Impact" on our students as they share in correspondence and build
relationships. The students of Meadow Creek are learning that we are living in a time of global relationships and we must
work together to have stewardship of our planet.